At the beginning of December 2017, the Nancy court had agreed with the opinion of the medical profession by validating the cessation of respiratory assistance to little Inès, 14 years old, suffering from a neuromuscular disease and plunged into the coma following a cardiac arrest since June 2017. The parents challenged this decision for the first time and appealed, convinced that their daughter was still able to move, but qualified as “reflex movements” by the doctors. For them, Inès is at that time in “a persistent vegetative state” and “does not and will no longer have the capacity to establish any contact” and they qualify the continuation of the treatments “of unreasonable stubbornness” . The parents then decided to enter the state Council.
Parents have exhausted all avenues
January 2018, the Council of State once again validates the cessation of care: “according to the report of the three medical experts delivered at the request of the administrative court of Nancy, the neurological prognosis of the child is” catastrophic “: it is found in a persistent vegetative state, unable to communicate with his entourage, the irreversible nature of neurological lesions being certain in the current state of science “. Following this, the parents tried to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights which ruled their application “inadmissible”.
The end of treatment was scheduled for Tuesday, June 19, but the family lawyer made a last attempt that he allowed them to gain 24 hours. It was therefore on Wednesday, June 20, that the doctor in charge of the child put an end to Inès’ respiratory assistance, despite the opposition of the parents. The hospital had to call in the police, in order to restore calm, explains Eastern Republican. The girl died the next day.
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